Coin counting and assorting machine



18, 1931- c. DOWNEY' 1,819,701

com couumze AND ASSORTING MACHINE Filed May 10, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INY/ENTOR. BY QM 56.4 M mw M A TTORNE Y.

Aug. 18,1931. c. DOWNEY com COUNTING-AND ASSORTING momma 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 10, 1927 I INVENTOR. 0Z2

ATTORNEY.

Aug. 18, 1931. c. I.. DOWNEY com coumme AND ASSORTING mourns Filed um 10, 1 92? 5 sheets-sheet s.

o a Q MOZY M A TTORNE Aug. 18, I L- DOWNEYL I pom couunuu AND ASSOR'I'ING IAOHIIIE I Filed lay 10, 1927 5 ShOQtS ShOOt 4 r v I f ivv NTOIEL' I v By wy I ATTORNEY.

Aug. 18, 1931. c. L. DOWNEY COIN COUNTING AND ASSORTING MACHINE Filed May 10. 1927 5 sheets sheet 5 iis L h :EJ'

A TTORNE Y.

Patented Aug. 18, 1931 ATENT CLEMENT LEE DOWNEY, or CINCINNATI, 01110 r'ial-Nod32,275, of which'this is a continua-' I iiftion in part, I have disclosed a'machine'for counting and assorting coins of diflierent denominations. In this co-pending applicaj 'tion I have disclosed a primary counting ma -"chine'which is adapted to count in United States coins, dimes, pennies, nickels, and

' quarters. The coins'are carried around'on a rotatable disc set at an angle on an annular flange of the disc, and the coins are interspaced by pin-s extendingup atright angles 5 tothe face of the disc. The coins are carried into engagement with a series of rotatable members, each ofwhich actuates by the same *movement'both a counter and a coin chute through which each coinis' discharged from V. :0 the disc. 'Thereis-a caliper plate which forces 3 each' 'difierent' denomination of coin into enga'g'ement with a differentrotatablemember,

"and as the primarydisc is arranged for countingin United States-coins, dime-s, pen- ,nies, nickels'and quarters, there are four sets ofrotatable members and four sets of coin chutesthrough which the coins pass. I have also disclosed in this co-pending'ca-se an auxiliary counting and assort'ing device which is j amadvised,thejcombination of anauxiliary counting clevic'e ior such 001115 38 cannot, because of them s ze be taken care of on the pnmary disc' is broadly new.

c -Iti-s theobjectof my invention to provide a primary and secondary structure the i: combination ofzwhich will enable practically every "denomination of coin which is coined and'cfounted. Thus,'while-I show only the combination with a primary and oneauxiliary counter, the units may be-increasedin capacity and number so that" the possible variations in the sizes "of coins which may be 95 counted arewithoutlimitation. A vfurther object is the provision of a coincounting and selecting machine in which defectiveccoins andJslugs. and tokens will not only not be 1counted,but in which'coins 'which arebent 5-;59 out ofshape or burred,.will'bejcaughtiprior p i I v anism for actuating the coin chutes. 301 adapted tocount half-dollars. A far asI Y v v r coin dischar e 0 enin removed. -1n any 'country lnthe world, to be selected b ASSORT'ING 1 Macrame 1a27. ser1a1 No, 190,309;

vto their entrance into the coin selecting and counting portion of the machine in aposit-ion in which they may be removed without difficulty.' The provision ofa'machine'which; will not be harmed by defective coins new development of considerable importance. The above noted objects whichpossibly were inadequately disclosed in the aforenoted application, I accomplish by that certain com-u bination and arrangement of part-sofWhiGli' GO the drawings show a preferredembodiment.

A further object of myinvention, as disclosed herein, is the provision of a novel type of coin chute which will greatly lessen the driving power required to operate the ma-"** chine, and which will cause less likelihood of coins sticking immediately prior totheir discharge into a coin chute. It is anotherfof my objects to provide a coin carrying disc which will not allow coins to be carried T around in such positions that they might block the machine. A still further object'is the provision of a novel type of coin carrying i pin or lug. which will prevent a coin or token,

havinga 'hole in it from, becoming wedged l in the machine due to having beencaught on a carrying pin. 'It is further my object to provide improvements in tripping mech- Referring to the drawings de i e] r M, v Figure 2 is a front elevation of a portion of the auxiliary coin'countingand selecting disc with theguard plate for the larger size Figure 3 is a side elevatio'niwith some ofithe parts removed showing .thewauxiliary' and, primarymachine. 1

: Figure 4; is a diagram from the rear of the belt'drive for both thecoin discs ofboth' the mechanisms. I

-Figure 5 isa'perspectiv'e' view-of the primary counting machine, the half-dollar counting device shown in Figure 1 having been disassembled.

auxiliary and primary selecting and counting 5 Figure 11 shows the parts shown in Figures 9 and 10 in operative position.

Figure 12 is a. diagrammatic'view of part of the operating mechanism of the primary counter and selector, with one coin chute in f operative position.

Figure 13 is an end elevation of one of the coin chutes.

shown in Figure 13.

F igurev 15 is a bottom plan view of one of the coin chutes.

shown in Figures 13-15. Figure 17 is a fragmentary sectional view of the carrying disc.

The auxiliary coin selecting and counting device whichis shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, consists of a rotatable disc 1 having arms 2 extending from the outer periphery thereof tobe counted and selected are carried'from the lower portion of the machine where they are held in such position that they will fall against the disc by the hopper 3, to the .discharge portion of the device which is. at the top. The disc 1 isv mounted at an angle both 40 to the horizontal and to the vertical so that coins will not fall off the arms 2 and so that they will always start at the bottom and be V carried upwardly one at a time.

Under the disc 1 there is an inclined plate 4 along which the coins are slidably moved by the arms or fingers 2. At the top of the auxiliary counter and selector there is' an opening which I have indicated as the shaded area 5' through which all coins not largerthan a certain diameter fall into a hopper 6' which supplies the coins to the primary counter and assorter. In a machine for United States coins, half-dollars will be the only coins which do not fall through the opening 5. These coins which are of larger diameter continue on aroundthe disc being supported by an upper ledge 7 and a lower ledgeia,

which extends in peripheral alignment with ,the annular edge of the disc 1. Ihave shown a motor 8 for driving the. machine, A convenient drive for the auxiliary and primary dis'cs is indicated diagrammatically in Figures 1 and 4?. A shaft havingaworm on it 4 is driven by the motor, and a worm gear is driven by the worm. The worm [gear is Figure 14 is a plan view of the coin chute .ing and counting. 4 I have 1 86 under the driving pulley 8c of the auxiliary disc in a clockwise direction then around the driving pulley of the primary disc over another guide pulley and then back to the pulley 8b.

The larger denominationed coins, in the machine illustrated, the half-dollars are carried over the opening 5 being supported on 80 the ledges 7 7 a to a position where they are carried into engagement with a trip finger 9 which carries a pin 9a extending in the path of the coins. The finger 9 is mounted on a shaft 96 which carries a bevel gear 9c. Another shaft 9d having a bevel gear 9e is drlven by the gear and a crank 9f on the shaft 9d rocks the counter 9g with each trip- 1 j pin of the fin er 9 by a assin coin. Still Figure 16 1s a side elevat on of the chute o b p b further along, as shown in thedrawing, un- 0 derneath the guard plate 10 there is an aperture 10 a ofsufficient size for the larger denomination of coins, in this instance halfy have indicated by the coin box 11. i between which all the denominations of coins In combination with the primary counter and selector which I provide, the auxiliary mechanism allows a combination in one machineof mechanism which will permit mixed coins from dimes to half-dollars all to be dumped into theinitial hopper 3 for selectprovided a rimary counter which due to the fact that only dimes, pennies, nickels and quarters may be counted on it with complete safety requires some combination of parts which will take care vof half-dollars and large coins. This combination which enables the selecting and counting of mixedcoins from dimes to quarters andincluding half-dollars and those. of a size larger than quarters is thoughtto be a distinct advance in the art. By utilizing the same combination and adding another au'xil iary counting unitwith a wider opening between the ledges of the rotating carrying .disc, silver dollars may also be counted. I

that they can be picked out before the coins are fed to the machine.

I have shown a tray 12 which has an opening 12a in it, which is supported infront of thehopper 3 so that the coins to be counted may first be dumped onto the tray and then swept withthe hand into the hopper.

The primary counting and selecting mech anism is composed of a-rotatable disc 13 also set atan angle toboth the vertical and hori- T zontal.

that they will fall against the disc- The disc has a-ledge 15 on which the coins are carried around in a counterclockwise direction. At, :interspaced positions onthe ledged portion I "have provided a seriesof lugs 16 which have interspaced outer edges at such distances apart that the longest dimension of the est coins to be counted. The reason that I pocket formed between the lugs is less than the sum of the diameters of two of the smallhave provided a lug instead of a set of pins is that manufacturers of tokens usually form apertures in the tokens by which they may -be distinguished from coins. In case, there fore, that a'token ofsimilar size as a coin,

. with the coins to be counted, there is no likeand having an aperture therein, is mixed in lihoodof the token becoming wedged on top of a pin and carried around on it under the guard plate where it might block the machine. If coins of larger sizes than quarters are usedon a machine handling dimes every once in a while two dimes will become wedged between a pair of lugs and block the machine.

It will further be noted that the spaces 17 in radial alignment with the lugs 16 are bev-' eled off. If the ledge 15 were continuous'it.

would sometimes happen that a coin would become caught on the ledge immediately adjacent 2. lug, and as the disc is set at an angle it might be carried in under the guide plate,

and thus block the machine. The provision of the lugs as indicated and of the beveled portions in alignment with the lugs are thus shown to be safeguards against the passage fective coin which is bent out of shape, will be caught as it passes to the opening in the, caliper guard plate, in which position it may block the machine and cause the belt tolslip,

of coins into such a position that they will not be immediately accessible for withdrawal.

It is a feature of my mechanism that a debut as it will immediately be accessible to withdrawal, no serious injury can happen to" the machine, and it will be visible to the operator; 7

, In order to explain the construction of the asserting and counting mechanism of;

the primary part of the machine, I will first describe the caliper. guard plate 17a to-which reference has been made in the immediately a preceding paragraph- Figures 6, .7 and 8. show the preferred construction clearly.

There are bosses 18 at each endof the plate which have holes.19 by which the plate is :mounted in interspaced position from the disc. Iprefer to support the plate'by means of threaded posts 20 in the frame 21 of the machine. The caliper plate 22 which is best shown in Figure 8 has a recessed portion 23 having holes by which the plate is secured to the supporting plate by screws 24. The supporting; plate has slots '25 which slidably The-hopper guard plate 6 retainsthe. coins at the bottom 14in such position iengagethe coin chutes, and I' find" it prefer able to secure individual interspacing plates such" as are shown at 26. tofill in sufiicient space between ,the' supporting plate and the disc, so that a. coin as large as a quarter if slightly. bent will not pass down along the caliper plate,,but will be caught at the admission, end which'I have indicated at 27. Thus it will appear that any bent coin which, inall other coin counting and selecting machines of which I am advised, may get caught in an inaccessible position, which may require the entire dismantling of the ina-chine,

.will be caught at the admission aperture under the plate, in which readily removed.-' l

. In some convenient position where they may be readily observed by the operator of the machine, the counters for counting the position it may be coins as they are selected are mounted. I

have shown the set of counters for the dimes, pennies, nickels and quarters secured to the frame of the machine at 28, 28-, etc. Each counter has a series of links which connect it with its respective counter trip. A counter trip 29 is illustrated in Figure 10. Each counter trip consists'of a shaft 30 which is journaled in themachine. There are, four counter trips'shown one for each denomination. of 00111. A segmentary portion 30a extends up from the frame of the machine and per supporting plate. The principle offoperation is that coincidently, with the rocking of the shafts30,the coin chute extensions are p in the shape ofchannels which have extensions 31 which are slidably engaged in the slots in the calilowered into engagement with the carrying disc and each respectivecoin then passes,

down the, chute into its respectivevcoin receptacle. The extensions. 31 are normally tensioned so that they, will be pressedtoward the disc. A convenient means of pressing the extensions of the coin chutes toward the disc j is provided in the swivelling spring posts. =The spring posts have base portions82 which are pivotally mounted vas by the screws 33 in the supporting plate 17a The bases have bosses 84 in which plunger pins 35 are pressed downwardly by springs 36. When itis desired to remove the coin chutes from V the slots, the knurled upper ends of the pins 85 are elevated and the lower portions thereof are removed from recesses 37.,Which are formed in the supporting-plate in alignment with each respective'slot. I 1

The coin chutes have bases 88in alignment with the extensions 3l-along which thecoins roll edgewise. The bases and-extensions are mounted in the machine so that they'will lie at substantially right angles to the face of the carrying disc. A cover plate 39 having peep holes 40 in it is attached to the base plate 38. l/Vith the machine operating at its normal capacity of nine hundred coins per minute if no cover plate is provided the coins will frequently be thrown out of the chute.

The base plates have mounting pins 41 hav-' I have observed that it is preferable not to have the plate along which the coins roll flatwise rigidly secured to the base A preferable mounting for this plate43 is shown in' Figure 15. The plate has ablock 44 at its pivoted end to which it is secured. The

block is mounted on another block 45 which is attached to the base 38. A pivot pin 46 is connected between the blocks. At the intake end of the chute the plate 43 is resiliently supported by a spring 47 which is mounted in a recess 48 in another block 49 which is secured to the base plate as by means of the screws 50. In order to provide an adjustable mounting for the plate 43 I also prefer to attach to the plate 43 a bracket 51 which clears the plate,- but has an end 52 in alignment with the under face of the block. I extend an adjustment screw 53 which may also have a lock nut 54 thereon through the end 52 and by turning the screw the end bears against the lower face of the plate 43 and thus regulates its position with relation to the base plate 38.

The block49 has an extension 55 which is engaged by a cam trip 56 which I have shown in Figures 5, 9 and 11. The cam trip of which there are three in the primary machine, as the last coin chute for dimes does not need to be tripped, has a shaft 57 which is pivotally mounted inthe machine frame. Each cam trip has an angular recessed portion 58 which engages the segmentary edge 59 of the counter trip. A plan view of the cam trip and the counter trip in operative coin therefore at practially the same moment when it trips the counter trip also actuates the cam trip and brings down the coin chute extension so that it will engage it and roll down the chute.

The resiliently mounted plate 43 at its end toward the carrying disc has an'edge end '60 which lies substantially in peripheral engage ment with the edge of the carrying disc while the surface of the plate 43 is in substantially parallel alignment with the surfaceof the carrying disc. I have found that if the plate 43 is rigidly attached to the coin'chute that a ledge will be formed at end 60 against which the edge of a coin will occasionally silient mounting for the plate 43*21150 is noticeable in that the motive power required for driving the machine is thereby lessened.

After a coin has tripped the coun er trip, and the counter trip has tripped the cam trip, the cam trip must'then be returned so that it will support the coin chute in its nor mal interspaced position from the carrying disc; The means which I have provided for accomplishing this operation are as follows. It will be noted that the lugs on the carrying disc 13 are secured with screws to the disc. I extend one of the screws of each lug below the surface of the disc and as the underneath extension of each screw passes its respective cam trip it engages a rounded end (31 of the cam trip, thereby returning the cam trip and the counter trip into position to be engaged by the next following 'coin of its respective denomination; I havefurther found that the trips are less likely to catch and block if this return movement is aided resiliently. I have therefore provided resilient strips or wires of spring metal such as I have indicated at 62, and attached an end-of a spring to the rounded portion of eachcam trip. The other ends of the spr ngs I have soldered to the'machine casing'so that the springs extend radially from the'axis o-f pivotal movement ofthe cam trips, .so that no matter which way the cams are moved, the

springs will tend to move them in the other direction. The use of these springs, I find, greatly lessens thewear on the segmentary and angular engaging portions of the cam and counter trips and also more infrequently leads to one of the trips sticking and thus blocking the machine.

Another feature of my primarycounting and selective mechanism is that a coin with an outeredge burred will stick without actuating the counter trip as the clearance between'the segment and the extensions of the coin chute is insufiicient to permit the coin to pass through. In this position the movement of the carrying lug will cause the coin to 'whirl around without'discharging into the rately carrying coins of different diameters,

order to enable others skilled in the art to make use of my invention, but I nevertheless reserve in the claims that follow what changes and mechanical modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art by which equivalent objects may be accomplished by utilizing the principles which I have disclosed. c

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a device of the character specified, a rotatable disc provided withmeans for sepaa plurality of movable coin chutes, each for receiving coins of simllar diameters, and a plurality of mechanical means, each for moving a difierent' coin chute into position to receive a coin carried on said disc;

2. In a devlce of the character speclfied, a

rotatable disc provided with means for sepa- 'rately carrying coins of diflerent diameters,

a plurality of movable coin chutes, each for receivin coins of similar diameters, a plurality oi mechanical means, each for moving a different coin chute into position to receive a coin carried on said disc, and a plurality of mechanical means, one for each coin chute, for moving said coin chutes out of coin receiving position.

3. In a device of the character specified, a rotatable disc provided with means for separately carrying coins of different diameters, a plurality of movable coin chutes, each for receiving coins of similar diameters, a plurality of mechanical means, each for moving a different coin chute into position to receive a coin carried on said disc, and a plurality of mechanical means, one for each coin chute, for moving said coin chutes out of coin receiving position, each set of means for moving coin chutes into position to receive a coin and for moving said respective chutes out of coin receiving position including a common movable member.

' l. In a device of the character specified, a rotatable disc provided with means for separately carrying coins of different diameters, a plurality of movable coin chutes, each for receiving coins of similar diameters, a plurality of mechanical means, each for moving a different coin chute into position to receive a coin carried on said disc, and a plurality of mechanical means, one for each coin chute,;

for moving said coin chutes" out o'fcoin re ceivin'gposition, each set of means for mov r lllg'COlIl chutes lIltQpOSltlOIl to receive acoin and for moving said respective chutes out of coin receiving" position havingj af'common movablemember, said first mentionedmeans j operableby' a co n carried on sald disc and saidsecond mentioned means operable by said separate coin carrying'means;

5. A machine of the chara'c'ter' described having a rOtatablePeOincarrying disc, a pluralityof 'devi'ces'associated with said disc each-forrec'eiving coins of different denominations,- a plurality "of means each for a respective device for trippingsaid devices to induce their movementinto position to i receive coins saidmeans being mounted in" spaced positions equldistant from the axis of said disc. V

'6. A machine of the character described having a rotatable coin carrying disc, a plurality of devices associated'with said disc each for receiving coins of different denominations, a plurality of means each for a respective device for tripping said devices to induce their movement into position to receive coins, said means being mounted in spaced positions equidistant from the axis of said disc, and cam means for directing coins carried on said disc intoengagement with said tripping means.

7. A machine of the character described having a coin carrying disc, assortingmeans for receiving coins carried on said disc and means for guiding coins into position to induce the actuation of said assorting means, said assorting means comprising a plurality of movable coin chutes each movable into a position to receive a coin of a" different denomination. I

8. A coin assorting machine having a coin carrying disc, chutes arranged to] be positioned to receive coins carried on said disc, each chute for receiving coins of a similar denomination, cam means for guiding coins carried on said disc in accordance with their respective denomination intolposition to be received in their respective positioned chute.

9. A coin assorting machine having a coin carrying disc, chutes arranged to be positioned to receive coins carried on said disc, each chute for receiving coins of a similar denomination, cam means for guiding coins carried on said disc in accordance with their respective denominations into position to be received in their respective positioned chute,

and tripping devices for moving said coin with their-respective denomination into position to be received in their respective positioned chute, tripping devices for moving said coin chutes into coin receiving position,

said machine being of the type having counters connected and arranged to register the numerical operat ons of said respect ve trlpplng dev ces.

11. A coin assorting machine having a com carrying d sc, a plurahty of means arranged at equal distances from the ax s of said disc for receivingcoins, each of said means movable to a posltlon to receive coins of the same diameter, and means for guldmg coins, in accordance with their diameters respectively, difl'erent distances into position to be received by their respectively positioned coin receiving means.

CLEMENT LEE DOWNEY. 

